New Challenge: Middle-earth Is Multitudes

Silmarillion Writers' Guild Challenge, Middle-earth Is Multitudes, 15 March - 15 April 2023, banner is dark gray, green, blue, and red stripes with silhouettes of a woman archer, flying dragon, and wizard with hands raised

In notes to W.H. Auden's review of Return of the King, Tolkien wrote, "The theatre of my tale is this earth, the one in which we now live ..." Middle-earth, being a world much like our own, is home to a wide range of characters. In addition to fantasy peoples and creatures that populate Tolkien's imagined world, because Middle-earth is an analogue of our Earth, there would have been diversity within those groups as well, much like in our own world. This month, we’re shining a spotlight on as many character groups as we can fit in—and to be honest, we ran out of space. We hope there is something for everyone in this month’s prompts!

The Middle-earth Is Multitudes challenge will feature two new prompts every day, recognizing the diversity of the people who inhabit Middle-earth. One prompt will focus on a group within Middle-earth, while the second prompt will focus on additional identities or characteristics.

  • You do not need to complete a prompt on the day it is featured.
  • You can complete one prompt or both, and you can combine prompts from different days.
  • Fanworks can but do not need to center on the character's identity; the bigger aim of this challenge is to include more diverse characters in our fanworks in a variety of roles, not only in fanworks that focus on that particular identity.
  • We expect there will be overlap between prompts and want to encourage participants not to overthink if a particular character meets a prompt. If you think a person belongs in a particular group, that is good enough for us.

Several other Tolkien fandom events are or will be running while this challenge is active. With this in mind, we've intentionally designed this challenge so that it is easy to combine with other prompts from other events.

You can find the Middle-earth Is Multitudes prompts and prompt calendar here.

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 April 2023. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website. Many thanks go to Ettelenë for creating this month's stamps!

Posted on 12 March 2023 (updated 15 April 2023) by SWG Moderators